Verizon 5G Goes Into Field Testing in 2016

I understand that your phone finally has a stable 4G LTE connection that doesn’t destroy its battery in four hours, but it’s time to look beyond and into 5G. Verizon 5G is almost here, sort of. The company announced today that it will begin field testing its 5G technology with key partners come 2016.

Companies like Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm and Samsung are already on board and working to “ensure an aggressive pave of innovation.” These companies (along with others over time, I’d assume) will take to Verizon’s Innovation Centers to collaborate and share ideas in order to help get 5G ready for you and I. If they can make enough progress, Verizon will begin field testing 5G in 2016. 2016 is next year, by the way.

Verizon describes the benefits of 5G as “50 times the throughput of current 4G LTE, latency in the single milliseconds, and the ability to handle exponentially more Internet-connected devices to accommodate the expected explosion of the Internet of Everything.” Yes, the IoT needs 5G, apparently.

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Remember that 5G is an ad hoc wireless mesh network. With 5G, *you* are the network… And somehow your battery isn’t going to mind passing all of that nearby traffic?

vzwuser76

I’m still waiting for a decent 3G signal from these asshats. Even though I’m in full red on their map, my signal outside for 1x is -105dBm and 3G doesn’t even show up. And I assume like when they went to LTE that the newer signal won’t carry as far either.

My Network Extender is circling the drain and I come to find out that in the time since I started using it, our signal level here has dropped 15dBm from 2010. This is in a flat rural area with no obstructions. But they will sell me a new Extender for $250. Largest and most reliable network my ass. I think I might have to pick up a Moto X Pure and see if AT&T has beefed up their network enough to be usable. I’m just about done with Verizon and their underwear stain of a CFO Shammo repeatedly stating how great their network is and how they don’t need WiFi calling, when there are almost 50 threads in their forums asking where it is.

Jam Master Jim

Seriously, I bet this is when they go after all the unlimited data plans. Saying unlimited doesn’t apply to the 5G network or some bull like that.

Patrick

I’m holding out for 6G

Jam Master Jim

2 GB of 5G for only $59.99 a month….

Ian Case

Shouldn’t they fulfill the proper speeds of 4G first? I’m lucky if I even see 15Mbit on Verizon LTE in the Philly burbs. AT&T gets me around 40-45Mbit in the same places, but alas, work pays for Verizon and thats it.

Trevor

If there’s another Thunderbolt, I’m in.

CoolSilver

Do we really need faster when all we want is stable and unlimited connection with 4g?

jimbob

What an “aggressive pave” might look like.

interstellarmind

I see this as the nail in the coffin for on board memory storage. Accessing information, files, even apps, from the cloud will become seamless.

mcdonsco

Why in the world would anyone need these kind of speeds on their phone? Hell, I don’t even need that kind of speed at home!

Would rather see a focus on expanding 4g (and even 3g) coverage over getting faster.

duke69111

I think the big thing here is the ability to handle more devices and reduce congestion. The speed will be nice, but the ability to handle more devices and hopefully keep the same speeds is appealing to me.

Naibas

I somewhat agree, I’m not against innovation and new technology, but concurrently with improving 3G and 4G areas. I’ve got great coverage most places I travel, but I’m still amazed to find pockets of 3G in what is mostly 4G dominated area, and going to my in-laws there is only 1x signal, not even 3G.

interstellarmind

It’s called progress. Would you rather be riding a horse to work?

TC Infantino

Yes. I just got one. He says his name is Susan, and he wants you to respect his life choice.

s0uth

I wonder what’s going to happen with the people on unlimited data? I fricken hope they don’t take it away from us by then…. I hope there’s another glitch to upgrade and keep unlimited data! Remember that?! Lol.

Jarred Sutherland

DL thanks for the news coverage with zero substance. What technology is being employed? I mean, anyone can head to verizon’s corporate blog or heck even hear about this “news” on CNN or something.

TC Infantino

Sure, let them check with their live, on the scene, reporter. You do realize that they can only report the information they gleen from various sources and leaks, right? They spend the time filtering various extraneous information to create posts that matter to us, the Android enthusiasts…. And also, apparently, to give entitled idiots something to bitch about.

Jarred Sutherland

What exactly did they glean that provided us with anything useful? You do know that “5G” isn’t even a standard, right? If this is the stuff that “android enthusiasts” care about let me clue you in, 6G will come after 5G! Look I provided 90% of the information this blog provided us. Extremely useful!

Masri87

Here is a faster network, so you can download more faster but be limited by your data package. lulz.

Skittlez

correct me if i’m wrong, but the speed doesn’t increase how much internet you look at, but rather how fast that information gets to you. you should already have the data package that works for you

Hard Little Machine

Sprint hopes to complete the rollout of telegraph speeds sometime this century.

VwRob

My Verizon phone hotspot is faster than my shyte century link

MKader17

I was at a convention recently where they were able to send/receive 10Gbps wirelessly. It was only over a few feet but it worked and is part of the 5G world.

Crazy to think that one day 1Gpbs will be the norm and 1 TB of RAM will be the norm.

stabone

They’re going to charge you $120 a month per single gig to be part of the test group.

So instead of driving a Camaro, you will be driving a Ferrari…but still with just enough gas to get out of the neighborhood.

o0Exia0o

Point is they need your money from overages for corporate bonuses, I mean to build a better network….

Allyn K C

“I understand that your phone finally has a stable 4G LTE connection” … this is true, except when I’m at work. The business park where I work, by early afternoon every weekday the Verizon connection regularly times out. Still shows a strong signal, just slows to a crawl then dies. I presume because too many users on their 4G with too few towers providing not enough bandwidth. If I switch over to 3G, I actually have faster service while I’m at work. Maybe the extra throughput of 5G will allow service to keep up with demand.

I wonder what frequency they’ll be using for 4G? Does Verizon have some unused bands still? Or will they begin converting bands that are currently utilized for 3G or 4G?

Steve

Does this mean they’ll go back to unlimited data now since they can’t use the silly excuse of “limited bandwidth”?

El Big CHRIS

There’s no incentive. They’re already making truck loads of money. But hopefully the caps aren’t as insanely low as they are now

Matthew Rebmann

How is everyone SO convinced that 5g still be the end of Unlimited? If they wanted us off THAT badly they could do it. I don’t believe anyone is on contract with it anymore. I’m one of them and I’ll stick with buying phones of contract until I know I can’t keep my unlimited. It’s like Y2k but for us nerds. Chill out.

Big EZ

I have two unlimited data link still under contract.

epps720

Is it just me or is that one stupid looking logo?

Roberto Taylor

How can they be working on 5G, when the current 4G speeds don’t match the actual 4G requirements?

85Mbps+ definitely beats their advertised 5-12Mbps. Granted some areas are in need of improvement.

Tyler Bowden

Are we actually gonna get a definition of 5G before the marketing teams get to the term or are we gonna have 4 four different 5Gs floating around out there with one of them being 4G with a shiny sticker over it.

Bring on the unlimited 5G!! VERIZON FOREVER!!! Or as long as they let me keep my unlimited data.

NexusPhan

This is absolutely a smart move by Verizon. They have some areas with serious congestion issues and not many ways to fix it. Kudos to Verizon – this is a great thing for them and the industry.

MaxPower27

Replace “smart” with “inevitable.” I can’t imagine that the other carriers will be far behind.

NexusPhan

Inevitable, yes. But Verizon is pushing it very early and that’s a really smart move by them. The alliance that writes these network generation standards didn’t expect commercial implementation until 2020! AT&T commented that 2020 was “reasonable”. Just look at what happened with Verizon LTE! Their 3G CDMA network was atrocious so they were the first to really push for LTE and they have seriously reaped the benefits since.

jnt

I appreciate Verizon trying to push forward, but their 4GLTE / Advanced Calling still needs a lot of work. Obviously they’re not ignoring that, I would just rather hear them talk about what they’re doing to make Advanced Calling actually reliable like calls over EVDO were…

jmodawg

Excellent, and the new “Simple Pricing Plan” will also cost a cool “5 G’s” lol

And Droid Turbo and Advanced Calling. Its a never-ending cycle. Never buy a guinea pig phone.

Pressed

Expected higher of a “flagship” I suppose.

hiran1228

Do you have Lollipop onDroid Turbo? I have been getting notifications about Lollipop update on my Droid Turbo since June or when they launched it. I am worried if something will happen to it. Do you have any advice for me?

jamaall

Yes, and it is much faster and smoother than KitKat. Battery is about the same. I’d highly recommend upgrading it.

hiran1228

Did you lose any Calendar Events or Re-install any APPS?

jamaall

Nope

MaxPower27

It’s excellent. As much as I hate to say this, it was worth the wait. Do it.

hiran1228

Did you lose any Calendar Events or Re-install any APPS? I am just concerned about losing Calendar Events, especially Birthdays/Anniversaries,etc. I know I should charge the phone during the update. But whats the percentage suggested?

Will Verizon be able to help me if I take it to the Verizon store or do it at home?

MaxPower27

I don’t have any calendar events, but those should all be synced to your Google account so there’s no reason you would lose them. I always do a factory reset with any Android update, so yes, I lost my apps. The good thing is that you can just download them all again.

Beyond that, you’re really overthinking this. Just make sure you have a decent charge in the phone and accept the update. I can’t imagine why anyone would need to take a phone into the Verizon store to apply an OTA updates.

hiran1228

Should I logout of my Facebook account on droid turbo or? If you factory reset the phone, and re-install apps. Do your things get saved like PDF Documents or?

TC Infantino

I have the Droid Turbo, and it has been all good with the update to 5.1. I have not experienced any issues, and battery life is still excellent.

TylerCameron

I loved my Thunderbolt and Galaxy Nexus…
Maybe some people’s expectations were way too high.

At least the Gnex worked. Aside from the POS camera and having to carry 3 extended batteries to make it a full day on LTE.

jmodawg

Can’t agree with you more, what an awful phone! Believe it or not though, I still have it in a drawer! I keep it as a backup phone in case I break my current phone. My Thunderbolt came to the rescue a year ago when I managed to wedge my then Droid MAXX phone in the recliner mechanism on my couch.

Fiorta

Lol I ran to the store to get that device

bassman418

I still have my Thunderbolt, and Galaxy Nexus in my closet. I’ve done the Note 2, 3, 4 and now 5 since then.

calculatorwatch

Here’s hoping they launch 5G by announcing the Thunderbolt II.

If HTC is going down, they better do it in a blaze of terrible glory.

Allyn K C

The Thunderbolt had serious problems on battery life (I had a dock both at home and at work – was the only way to make the phone viable). But other than that, I thought the issues claimed were severely overblown. I was quite happy to move on to a phone with realistic battery life, but never had any of the other problems that are claimed to have plagued that device.

what do you use? Thinking of leaving Verizon for Tmobile (unlimited data)

Suicide_Note

I left Verizon for TMo and was happy for a while, but their coverage could be spotty, and eventually it became too much to deal with. Now I’m with Cricket and couldn’t be happier. I pay $50/month for service which includes 20 GBs of data.

Patrick

ohh. seems like tmobile has good LTE Coverage in San Francisco Bay Area

MaxPower27

Sad but true. For a lot of people, it’s the only viable option.

Mark Snider

In my area, especially at home, Verizon is the only viable option. Plus I still have unlimited

I never bite the hand that feeds me unlimited data with the best coverage and fast speeds. All Hail Verizon.

Ahku Droid

Unless the fine print for 5G ends up being “Unlimited legacy contracts will not be supported and customers must select one of our new ‘affordable’ data plans”.

Allyn K C

Sadly, I’m fully expecting that restriction … I’m sure allowing unlimited on 4G was an accident on their part that they regret allowing customers to keep. And an accident they would have no intention of repeating with the eventual migration to 5G.

michael arazan

All Hail Hydra, I mean Verizon

Big EZ

I hate Verizon. They are a horrible company. BUT, they are the only one with decent coverage.

scotch1337

I think that it stems from the fact that for so long they were boasting about their customer service and within the last 5 years they have been moving away from that model. Despite all of the flaws that exists in the overall customer experience it is still one of the best networks out there. I felt jaded that I had to lose my unlimited plan. I almost never used it the way some have, but I liked the idea that IF I needed to utilize it I could.

hiran1228

I am not understanding 4G LTE vs 5G. Will there be a 5G LTE Network? Is Verizon the first US Carrier to do 5G/5G LTE? Will they shut down their 4G LTE? I have a Droid Turbo, and not eligible for upgrade til 2017. Will Droid Turbo work for 5G/5G LTE or get a new phone?

Really. When is Verizon planning to shut down/sunset 3G? Will the Droid Turbo be eligible for 5G or just 4G LTE?

Chris Hannan

Your phone has hardware limitations. It can’t be updated to support a new network. Your phone will continue to run on 4G LTE long after you upgrade to a new phone, unless you plan on keeping your Turbo for more than a decade.

hiran1228

But I am just worried about losing my 2 year contract. I love my contract. If I get a new 5G phone. I am worried about saying Good-Bye to my 2-year contract.

jak_341

It’s only going to be field tested in 2016. Rollout probably won’t start till 2017 or 2018. Phones won’t take full advantage until 2019. By that time, unlimited wireless (and probably wired) data will be a thing of the past.

hiran1228

What do you mean by field tested?

jak_341

It’s in the article. Field testing would be lighting up a few towers and having Verizon technicians use it for a while to see how it works “in the field.” Consumers will not see, or be affected by, testing.

Bobb

There isn’t a single phone out right now that supports a 5G network

Tyler Durden

Who knows, they love old crappy 3G/CDMA.

hiran1228

But their 4G LTE Network will still be around for about 10 years right.

Duffman

OMG dude, calm down. You sound like you are in a panic over nothing. It’s not like your phone will stop working when you wake up tomorrow. Their CDMA network is still working and that thing is a dog of technology. Just take a deep breath, enjoy your Turbo and realize you’ll be through at least another phone before 5G even becomes a reality. Live life in the now! lol

Dude they still have 1x and 3G, it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. When Verizon started field testing 4G LTE it was 2 years later before they actually started to deploy any of it, meanwhile the existing network hasn’t changed much since then, you can still get 1x and 3G in places you could before.

Nope, but they pay for unlimited on 4G LTE. It doesn’t say anywhere that it includes future tech.

TC Infantino

At the speeds that I am seeing, I won’t mind being limited to 4G so long as I can keep my unlimited data. Maybe also by then, market pressure will cause much lower prices for data and I can comfortably pay for a new tiered data plan.

dukenilnil

That was my 1st thought. I’m guessing it will be the end. Stick with 4g and unlimited or go tiered at 5g. Maybe (but I doubt it) they’ll give a brief window where you can change bands like they did when it went from 3g to 4g.

Chris Hannan

I will gladly stay on LTE to keep unlimited. My speeds are more than adequate for what I need.

I bet this is what happens. We’ll get to enjoy Unlimited on 4G (which is more than adequate for my most needs) until 5G starts completely replacing 4G. That would probably take about 3-4 years at least from the initial market launch, so I figure I’ll enjoy unlimited until around 2020.

Shiggles

You know it’s inevitable.

Lupe Arismendez

It will probably end the Unlimited data, I have unlimited and when 4G was rolling out I was nervous when I bought the HTC ThunderBolt cause I thought I would lose unlimited. But lets hope and pray we dont lose it (unlimited)

mmark27

Actually, wouldn’t this “allow” unlimited with ease on their network? Right now they’re choked out by so many devices (and the tards using TBs worth of data monthly), but 5G would allow for more simultaneous connections and ease the ability for many users to use concurrent data. Now, I’m not saying they will allow that because limited data seems to be acceptable already, there’s no way they won’t make you pay dearly for it.

Both wired and wireless unlimited data is going to be a thing of the past. It’s inevitable.

Chris Hannan

But hopefully not imminent.

jak_341

More imminent than you think. 2016 is the projected rollout for a lot of providers.

Chris Hannan

For what? Not 5G. That’s still several years away.

jak_341

Data caps. There was a leaked document that came out a while back that Xfinity was going nationwide with caps in 2016. The expectation is other providers will follow suit

T4rd

Probably, but it’s an artificial limitation. There is plenty of bandwidth for everyone to use, but capping your data is the easiest way for ISPs to cash in on you. If it were really about bandwidth, they would use this thing called QoS and/or throttling when needed. The plans should cap you by speed, not data used, but that would be less profitable.

Big EZ

Yep. Have a tier system. Unlimited*. Full speed for the first 10 gb, then drop until you hit 25 gb, then drop to 4G until the end of the month. However, those speeds should only be in place at peak times, full speed when there’s low network traffic.

TC Infantino

Exactly on point! It is now, and always has been about capitalizing on what consumers use most. Not ever about network optimization. It started out with minutes, then added texts as people bypassed using minutes via text message, then added data as people used alternative message services. Then they focused only on data because smartphones allow consumers to bypass both minutes and text with so many apps. It has Always been about maximizing income from the consumer.

MReprogle

Wired started out that way, and has been phasing it out over the past few years. I highly doubt they will ever be going back to having tiers. It seems like every month, wired providers are offering faster speeds for less money. If they were going to start bringing back tiered data, this trend would not be occurring.

GJV

This is absolutely going to be the end of unlimited data, unless you want to stay on 4G indefinitely. But it’s still probably a couple years out before we’ve got the option to switch. But, I think we’ll inevitably see the amount of data allowed at given price tiers increase, as network capacity increases and mobile content gets more and more data-intensive. Still, I will miss you dearly, unlimited data.

It won’t, but it will allow them to get around all of the rules enforced on them by the FTC from the 700mhz spectrum sale for all non u/l customers.

Good_Ole_Pinocchio

I’m guessing folks can’t wait to enjoy 5G at that 3GB cap most people have.

Tyler Durden

I’ll enjoy it like I do now, just faster. Not like it’ll use more data.

Good_Ole_Pinocchio

Not really about using more data because it’s faster. About using more data to do more robust things on Mobile devices. If we’re just pushing faster networks for the sake of using mobile devices the exact same way, then what’s the point? Faster app downloads? A more robust network should mean a more feature rich network, which doesn’t mesh with measly data caps.

Tyler Durden

Well I do have 10-12GB, and I rarely hit 7-8. Who knows. We will see.

Matthew Rebmann

Hang on, I need to get this straight. You’re begrudging speed for the sake of speed? In what way would loading webpages/Music/videos/etc faster? Yes, caps suck, but faster data will just mean you’re not stuck waiting a little more time for that video you want to show your friend. My consumption won’t certainly increase by a meaningful amount, it’ll just be enhance because I’ll (hopefully) get it when I want it.

Josh Kramer

The issue is if your connection is faster you’ll consume content faster, and you’ll end up using more data without meaning to.

Also, if you have a faster connection apps like Youtube may download a higher quality stream since the connection can handle it, but it’ll use more data.

Tyler Durden

Haven’t ran into this problem on 4G yet.

hiran1228

What about Viber or game apps like Candy Crush or Cookie Jam?

Tyler Durden

Don’t play them 😉

hiran1228

How much data would it consume for Viber?

Matthew Rebmann

You can set most steaming services to a certain bitrate as a default. Most of them already default to a lower bitrate.

Josh Kramer

For power users who know how to sip data, great. For my mom, not so great. Her iPhone 4s’s 3G connection helps keep her from going over her limit.

Matthew Rebmann

To some extent, that starts to become a problem on the user side of things, not the provider.

Josh Rahn

Agreed, imagine the overage charges it will help VZW rake in. 😛

T_Dizzle

Steaming?! Pile o what?

Floyd

Sure you won’t. You’ll only be able to download a 500mb movie in seconds and you won’t use 3 gb in a month. lol Higher bandwidth just means higher bitrate data which is much more data in the same amount of time we use now. Unless you’ll just be using your 5g to get your emails lightning fast. haha

GJV

Trolling the DL comments all day, every day, must be fairly data intensive.

For the main reason that many apps use higher quality content if you have a faster connection, and if you factor in that there is a significant amount of wait time for things to load, so if you are killing a set amount of time on your phone then yes you can do more in a given amount of time.

Allyn K C

My data use has been steadily increasing each year. Not by a lot, but noticeably when I compare my monthly average data usage. With faster speeds, it becomes possible to get more detailed data streamed to apps; as well as apps with more useful features making their data usage increase. And I don’t currently stream much entertainment content (no movies, TV shows, etc) over my phone – for those doing that, the higher def content that becomes available with higher speeds will increase their data use even more than I have experienced.

sagisarius

1 gigabit per second… so you’d blow through a 3 gigabyte cap in 24 seconds then?